7 February 2025
Only around 10% of the proposed 87% rate rise over two years from North Sydney Council is required to fund the Olympic Pool cost blowout, according to Cr James Spenceley.
Despite the impression of a financial crisis created by the $50-60 million blowout of the pool fitout, Spenceley said the planned rate increase would increase Council’s revenue take by about $544 million over the next ten years.
Council has funded the pool to date with a combination of external government grants, loans and its own cash, and has already announced plans to borrow another $10 million to help with the additional costs.
According to Spenceley, the additional $544 million raised by the rate increase will go to a range of various measures including new infrastructure and costs arising from its 2024 “Informing Strategies” consultation ($167m), infrastructure renewals ($112m), building cash reserves ($112m) and an infrastructure backlog ($139m). Another $35 million will go towards “reparing the deficit.”
Spenceley – one of just three of the ten councillors to have publicly dissented from the Council’s official line supporting the rate increases – said Council has many assets that can be sold, but “I’m yet to receive an adequate answer as to why we can’t sell some of the council-owned office space and retail shops, other than, now is a bad time to sell these or that they are returning more than our term deposits or interest cost.” Council owns around $50 million of commercial real estate including retail outlets as well as surplus properties such as a laneway carpark and a depot, both of which could be sold and developed for sums greater than the required funds for the pool.
He added: “Council has access to fixed rate Tcorp government loans, with a completely fixed/stable revenue base and pricing power, there is no reason Council can’t have a much higher level of debt. For example the pool is planned to only be 40-50% funded by debt.”
“In the corporate world you need to be conservative about the level of debt, markets change as does your revenue but a government entity is different, perhaps the people putting this plan together have not adjusted fully from the commercial world to that of the finances of a government body.”
“The long and short of it, there is definitely a book of work in fixing our assets, there is clearly additional funding needed for the pool *but* a huge amount of the money is being used to “repair the finances”, in essence this is trying to plan for, and save for a rainy day … in the middle of a rainy day,” he said.
“There will be plenty of time to repair the finances but not at the same time as you are proposing increase spending on infrastructure renewals, new infrastructure and backlogs and the un-budgeted pool expenses.”
Council meets on Monday night to ratify the proposed 87% increase which would then go to a state government tribunal for approval.
Spenceley said “there are a number of ways to reduce the impact of the rate rise but it takes a desire or interest or curiosity to explore them, it is pretty clear there is no interest in anything other than making the rate payers pay.”